Wish I'd seen this when it was posted but I can't let this slide.Hi, I'm sorry to do this but based on the way Kaleidophoenix and myself were treated by the runner of the Faker's Marathon 6 I'm actually going to abstain from participating. I did not realize it had not only happened to me and I don't want to engage with a community that's headed by someone who acts like that seemingly regularly and not just because he had a bad day or something. My apologies.
Here's my entry!
Pumpkaboo – Psychic – HP 60
Basic
NO. 710 Pumpkin Pokémon HT: 1’04” WT: 11 lbs.
Ability: Psychic Gathering
Once during your turn, (before you attack), you may search your deck for a [P] Pokémon for each Gourgeist you have in play, shuffle your deck, then put those Pokémon on top of it in any order.
[C] Pumpkin Pass 10
Draw a card. Switch this Pokémon with one of your Benched Pokémon.
Weakness: Dark (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-30)
Retreat: [C]
It is said to carry wandering spirits to the place where they belong so they can move on.I chose Pumpkaboo because I think that the Gourgeist from Chilling Reign is really interesting. Being able to do up to 360 damage is really good, but its attack is so unreliable. This card fixes that problem, while also not being too powerful, which is something I really had to think about when creating an effect like Psychic Gathering on a Basic Pokemon. This ability does cap at 3 mons on top of your deck, unless you are playing this with Zoroark from Chilling Reign. Also, the effect isn't stackable, since you shuffle your deck after pulling the psychic Pokemon out. This card was intended to be printed in the late SWSH era, somewhere around BRS probably. The primary card I used as a reference point was Mallow GRI, since TPCi doesn't love printing these kinds of effects.
Thanks for the correction. I don't feel like editing my post and losing two points though.The Zoroark isn't from Chilling Reign. It's from Evolving Skies
Understandable. I just wanted to make sure you knew so you didn't make the same mistake lolThanks for the correction. I don't feel like editing my post and losing two points though.
Beautiful template! It looks much better than my personal attempts to create an e-card formatted template using Omnium... granted, I did like how I made space for Pokédex entries at the bottom, but I didn't draw the grill details very neatly, and the illustration border didn't look clean either.Pelipper PAL#159: "When you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon during your turn..."
Thwackey CRE#017: "Discard a random card from your opponent’s hand."
Camerupt OBF#032: "Discard the top card of each player’s deck. This attack does 100 more damage for each Energy card discarded in this way."Been working on these blanks for a little while now, and they're ready enough for a CaC debut. E-card layout with SM textures/symbols and modern wording. Dark is the secondary typing intentionally (I think the flavor is better, and if Steam Siege can make dumb stuff, so can I). I'm also using the new CaC symbol for modernizing reasons. I've got other things to finish up before there's a public release of the blanks, but they should be coming eventually.
Onto the card itself! A clean hand off a Level Ball search is quite good, as Dedenne-GX off Quick Ball proved, but this time it's on an evolution, so there's more investment. I also like the risk/reward of discarding your hand instead of a draw up to effect to tie into the Rocket lore. Discard is the overall theme here, with Knock Off depleting your opponent's hand after you've refreshed your own, and Dark Sheer being a big bomb of an attack that's quite high investment for a Stage 1 (meaning it won't see much use, but that's fine). This is balanced for late DP era. Overall I'm quite happy with how this one turned out.
Love the card, the attack name is a bit cringe tho lolPalafin - HP 90 - [W]
Stage 1, Evolves from Finizen
View attachment 18828
NO. 0964 Dolphin Pokémon HT: 4'03'' WT: 132.7 lbs.
(Ability): Zero to Hero
As long as you have more Prize cards remaining than your opponent, this Pokémon gets +90HP and its attacks do 90 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance).
[W] - Justice Always Prevails 60+
If any of your Pokémon were Knocked Out during your opponent’s last turn, this attack does 60 more damage.
Weakness: [L] x2
Resistance:
Retreat: [C][C]
Its physical capabilities are no different than a Finizen’s, but when its allies are in danger, it transforms and powers itself up.
I originally struggled a lot to think of what to do for this CaC. Eventually, though, I knew I wanted to make a card that could go beyond the limitations of the Level Ball while still being able to be searched out with it. Wishiwashi (EVS) was a great example of what I wanted. An overall underwhelming card that could potentially be a strong attacker with a lot of HP. After a while of searching and thinking, I chose Palafin. Palafin in the games is a very underwhelming Pokémon, that when positioned correctly, can be one of the most powerful Pokémon on your team. All the current Palafin cards only reflect Palafin's Hero form, so I thought this could be a great chance to showcase its in-game ability and its Zero form. For a while, though I couldn't figure out what or how I wanted this card to be designed, obviously its ability would allow it to have more HP and do more damage, but I couldn't figure out the conditions I wanted this ability to activate under. Similarly, I was lost when choosing the attack. I knew I wanted it to be a generally underwhelming attack for a low Energy cost that could be taken advantage of once Palafin's Ability was activated. I went through a ton of drafts, both with different ways of activating its ability and what the attack would do, and eventually settled on this one.
This entire card is very clearly designed as being a comeback card. 90 HP on Stage 1 isn't that great and 60+[60] under a specific condition isn't horrible for 1 Energy, but not spectacular. Once the ability activates, this card goes to a whopping 180 HP which is a lot higher than other Palafin cards, but I felt it was appropriate since this card is not going to have 180 HP throughout the entire game most of the time. Its attack then goes to being 60+90+[60]. This is a huge power spike for such an inexpensive attack, even doing 150 damage is good, but being able to do 210 is amazing, even for a Stage 1. The biggest flaw in this card though, can be considered to be the fact that it does so much damage. It's possible that after KOing one of your opponent's Pokémon with this card, the Ability would deactivate, making the extra 90 HP redundant. Now, 180 HP isn't a whole lot, most Pokémon in the format can 1HKO it anyway, but against certain cards like Radiant Greninja, Cramorant (LOR), and Sableye (LOR) the HP can make all the difference. This is an unfortunate flaw in a card like this and if I had some more time I could probably find a way around this, but this is how I'm going to leave it. On a positive note, during a game, it's not always that the +90 HP won't be active.
Anyway, I love CaC and it's my second one! I hope to cook up something better for the next one, but I hope you enjoy this card. I usually try to create interesting cards that make you think and wonder how they could fit into the current format, part of that is because I only create text fakes, but another part of that is because I love creating things and I want my creations to be meaningful and something that can stay on your mind for at least a while. I don't always succeed at that, but I do try. I wish luck to everyone who submitted an entry this month!
I wouldn't be too worried about Misfortune Dance. The only playable cards it turns off in the 2006, 2007, and 2008 formats are Pokéball, Energy Removal 2, Pokémon Reversal, Dual Ball, Life Herb, Super Scoop Up, Energy Charge (Maybe? I don't know if it was played in the EX era), and Time-Space Distortion. That's eight cards, and none of them are absolutely essential. Pokéball and Master Ball compete for space in turn-2 decks (read this article for information on which is stronger in a given deck: https://erikreeds.wordpress.com/2023/09/16/master-ball-vs-poke-ball-in-rs-pk/), but the difference is small enough those decks won't suffer from using Master Ball instead. Dual Ball was primarily useful in big basic decks like turn-2 Zapdos or RayLer (the latter of which was only playable in EX Block, an official format in Japan that used all third generation sets). Shutting off Time-Space Distortion would be painful, except that you're not being aggressive if you attack with Comfey. The other cards are not essential for setting up, and were strong and disruptive when successful, so having some counterplay to them isn't horrible; in fact, I would consider removing the coin flip. If you are fielding a 50 HP basic and attaching an Energy to it to stop your opponent from using a Super Scoop Up to pick up their 110 HP Rayquaza ex delta that will Knock it Out on your opponent's next turn, you do not want to flip tails. You are putting too much on the line.I tried to understand Trainer power levels with the help of everyone involved in the Delta Comfey Showcase post conversation (TY btw) but in the end I feel like I've failed to balance Misfortune Dance, in case of an head it locks your opponent out of a lot of Trainer cards for just a colorless. But it does leave you with a 50HP lil dude who can't evolve on the active so maybe I did sth idk.
That artwork is heartbreaking! Why is Porygon2 in tears? It doesn't look like it wants to go to space! Who thought it was okay to break its little heart?The art was a gift from Ignis, a good friend of mine! Check out his stuff here: https://twitter.com/IgnisSd
This card was made with the Lackey DPPt metagame in mind.
The theme behind this Porygon2 is to use your opponent's choices against him. Its Poké-Body can punish setting up too early by blocking up to 60 damage. Since a lot of the support Pokémon in Lackey DPPt are evolutions (Raccaflame, Pidgeot delta, etc...) and are kinda hard to punish, this would be a way to do so. The item and the attack work in similar ways, the latter adding another factor onto what your opponent should chose to leave in the active on top of "is this mon gonna die", and the former forcing decisions at times they might not be used to.
The flavor theme is all based around the artwork: Porygon2 sent in space using random balloons. The item is a sarcastic nod to that, and Extreme Adaptation is also a reference to how Pory is able to live in space (weee). The Pokédex desc is also kind of a joke relating to that, on top of being one of the official dex descs.
Overall I'm pretty proud of this card. It's nothing very flashy or very complicated, but despite being a simple one prizer i still did a thorough exploration of the theme i chose; thats how I like my cards.